Parental Programs
by A Piece Of Pax
Summary: As the Rescue Bots have come to discover, Cody Burns has a habit of getting himself into trouble. It's not really surprising that their sparkling-protection programming ends up kicking in when he does.
1. Heatwave

Heatwave was angry.

No, scratch that, he was furious.

He was furious with the universe for sending him to this pit-forsaken mud ball, furious with the Decepticons for destroying his home planet, furious with himself for letting things come to this. Barely a decacycle in this Primus-forsaken place and he already hated it.

It was nothing like his home and yet everything was so achingly familiar- the people, the buildings, even the rescues were all the same. The only difference was how fragging small and soft everything was. He was used to harsh metal, to energon lakes and acid rain, the thrum of his planet's core beneath his pedes. The shimmering white skyscrapers the towered over Iacon and the bruising sunsets that would settle over a distant Praxus, blue and violet light that would bounce off the Helix gardens to streak across a charred sky.

His fist curled as he struck the dummy again and again, growling mindlessly as it spun and dug its splintered arm into his shoulder.

Scrap, given any other situation he probably wouldn't have even minded the company of the humans all that much- Pit, the rest of his team thought they were pretty interesting. But pretending to be a mindless machine? Forced to obey Kade's commands? Ordered to keep quiet as others took credit for his rescues? What a joke!

The wood gave an unsatisfying crunch under his knuckles and he drew back to shake splinters from his joints. The mark of his labour had been left behind as an indent on the pillar's surface; it made the make-shift punch bag tilt dangerously and his engine sputtered in frustration.

Primus, this was so fragging stupid. Even the training dummies on this planet couldn't measure up to-

"Heatwave?"

The intruding voice made him startle and the Rescue Bot turned, a snarl of irritation aggravating leaving him until he saw the pair of big fleshy optics that stared up at him. Suddenly his anger flooded away, replaced by sudden bitter exhaustion.

"Hey, uh, Cody..."

Even the language felt odd and unnatural in his mouth; wet, fleshy sounds that scraped off his glossa, so much unlike Cybertron's clicky vernacular.

Below him, the young human frowned, glancing curiously at what was left of the discarded punching bag. It looked less like a bot-sized pillar now and more like a rotting tree trunk that someone had taken a giant hammer to.

"Is everything okay? You seem-" Cody grimaced, "-kind of stressed out."

Heatwave nearly snorted at the overwhelming understatement, but covered it up with an ungraceful grunt, "I'm fine. I've just got a lot on my processor right now."

Cody looked drastically unconvinced. Heatwave could see the lines of hair above his optics draw together as his lips pursed to form a look of concern that Heatwave swore he'd seen once before- on Chief Burns, no less. It was begrudgingly endearing, especially when the youngling folded his arms and said, quite seriously: "Are you sure you're okay? Because if you ever need to talk about it, I'm always here to help."

Heatwave's pent-up fury softened slightly. Cody was a good kid. It was a shame that he was probably the only good thing about this planet.

"Thanks, I appreciate it. I'll make sure to come find you when I need you, okay?"

Something crossed the boy's expression then, an unfamiliar expression that made Heatwave pause rather suddenly. He looked like he wanted to say something more but seemed to settle with smiling and nodding tiredly before trudging to the couch where he hiked himself up and became submerged in the cushion pile.

The fire-bot paused inexplicably.

Something sour tickled the edge of his processor as he looked over to his youngest charge. The youngling had pulled his legs up to his chest, eyes glassy and unseeing as he looked to the television blaring some arbitrary cooking program. Cody, seeming to think that he'd wandered from the bot's view, had dropped his kindly smile in return for a troubled shadow that fell across his childish brow. A certain disconcertment overturned his lips in an expression that Heatwave found unnervingly familiar; anger. It wasn't an emotion that he had often seen on Cody's face and now it seemed stuck there.

Something was wrong. From what he already knew, the kid should have been bouncing around, either clamouring for an impromptu game of Burns' Ball or happily rattling off his day into the nearest Autobot's audial. Instead, he was hushed and withdrawn, nowhere near the eager youngling that the bots had waved off this morning.

It was more unsettling than he was willing to admit.

The only issue now was figuring out what exactly was he supposed to do it about it. Heatwave may have been the team leader, but he wasn't really good when it came to dealing with emotions. He just wasn't wired that way. His version of comfort normally included a gruff comment and a sharp look- not something that would work when he was dealing with a sensitive youngling.

Eventually, he instead resigned himself to clearing the static from his voice box in an awkward cough. "That offer of yours- that thing about needing to talk? It works both ways, you know. Is there something _you_ need to talk about?"

He watched as Cody rearranged his features into something less dejected. "What? I- No, I'm fine," the boy started hurriedly and offered a blatantly false smile that had Heatwave's optics narrowing. "Why are you asking?"

"You just seem kind of quiet. Bad day at, uhhh... what's that place called again? Scoof?"

Instantly, Cody went stiff. Heatwave watched bemusedly as his charge's eyes seemed to grow very wide for a moment before shifting abruptly to the floor, almost as if he were afraid of looking straight at the mech. Then, as if suddenly remembering that he'd been posed a question, the boy shrugged in a manner that was so overtly non-plussed that Heatwave couldn't help but raise an incredulous optic ridge. Apparently, Cody was a terrible liar.

"School, Heatwave. And yeah, it was okay."

Heatwave glanced bemusedly to his HUD's chronometer.

"Why are you back so late anyway?"

"I had detention."

"Detention?"

"It's like... a punishment at school. If you do things that are bad, you have to stay behind for a couple of hours to make up for what you did."

To Heatwave, nothing could have sounded more suspicious. The words 'punishment' and 'Cody' didn't really seem to fit together and even Cody seemed to know it.

"A punishment for doing what?"

Heatwave was unsurprised this time when Cody stiffened. The youngling seemed to know the question was coming but didn't look sure of how how to answer it. The mech watched as conflict ignited in his eyes and waited, curiosity suddenly getting the better of him when he saw the shame that flashed across the boy's expression. It quickly morphed into false sheepishness.

"I was just talking too much in class," Cody answered shortly. "It was my fault, really." And rather than let the conversation continue, Cody gave a very deliberate yawn and trudged over to the side to grab the remote for the television.

Heatwave watched the boy's progress with a careful optic, noting the slight buckle at the knee and the tiny flinch of the boy's fingers when he moved. To the human eye, it would have been nearly imperceptible, but to Heatwave it was laughably obvious; Cody's left leg was off balance. Somewhere unbeknownst to him, a subconscious roil of suppressed programs began to rear its sleepy head. His optics narrowed and his suspicion rolled into mild concern.

"Cody, why are you limping?" he called. He would have been blind not to notice the panic that flashed across Cody's face at the question.

"Uh... I probably just twisted it or something during gym class. Don't worry, it doesn't hurt or anything." The boy shrugged, smiled stiffly and then made to leave again but Heatwave wasn't having it this time. He deftly grabbed the retreating boy by the back of his shirt and hefted him upwards, ignoring the yelp of surprise as he did so.

"No offence, but you're a terrible liar. Tell me what happened before I set Chase on you."

Cody actually winced at the threat, no doubt scenarios of being restrained and tortured via municipal codes causing him to grow considerate. He seemed to do battle with himself for a long moment. He must have noticed the utter gravity to Heatwave's tone because he caved with a frustrated sigh, throwing up his hands in begrudging defeat.

"I'll only tell you if you promise not to tell Dad or Kade. And _especially_ not Dani!"

Heatwave's expression dipped into amused consternation. Something about this narrative was starting to dissolve into something weirdly familiar.

(Memories from his time back at the Rescue Academy began to surface; first, the girlish shrieks of the class glitch-head as Heatwave poured paint stripper down the mech's backstruts, then the image of Gridlock- the academy coordinator- glaring at him across a desk as a younger Heatwave nursed a leaking energon line in his dented cheek. He'd had cleaning duty for three cycles after that particular incident. Chase had not been amused.)

"I promise that I won't tell them."

"Not even my dad?"

Against his better judgement, Heatwave sighed and nodded. "Not even the chief."

The boy paused, shifted uneasily as if weighing his options, and then gave a forlorn sigh of regret. He dug his face into his hands and mumbled something so very unintelligible that even Heatwave's advanced audials could barely pick apart the words.

"Say that again?" he asked and this time Cody's face lifted from the safe space of his trembling fingers.

"I got into a fight..." the boy muttered sullenly. For a long moment, Heatwave stared confusedly at the little human sitting rigidly amongst his digits. A part of him wondered whether he needed to reboot his systems- because there was no way he could have heard that correctly. But then Cody shifted uncomfortably in his grasp, looking so uncharacteristically guilty that Heatwave was taken aback.

The kid must have expected some kind of reprimanding because he flinched when the bot swiftly took a seat amongst the bot-sized couch cushions. "I'm sorry," he mumbled ashamedly and his cheeks started to change colour. "I didn't really mean for it to happen."

Bewildered, Heatwave was knocked from his surprise and frowned down at his companion. "Just, uh, tell me what happened."

After taking a deep breath, Cody did.

"One of the boys in my class was getting bullied by one of the upperclassmen. I saw it happening in the corridor and I- I..." Heatwave's optics shuttered as his charge's expression morphed from one of hesitation to guilty frustration. "I couldn't just let it happen. He was calling him names and making fun of him and I know I should have just gotten a teacher but there wasn't any time! I wanted to stop it before it got out of hand so I just jumped in between them and, well..." Cody winced as he glanced down to his leg. "It didn't really work out like I hoped it would."

A hot burst of protective anger flared in Heatwave's chassis, so raw and new that his engine stuttered with surprise at the sensation. Oblivious to the 'bot's anger, Cody carried on.

"One of the teachers was coming down the corridor when it happened and... I guess she figured it was just an argument that got out of hand or something? She ended up putting us both in detention for the whole of next week. I'm supposed to write him a letter tomorrow to apologise and-"

"Don't bother," Heatwave cut in sharply. At the look he received, he ground out a huff of annoyance. "What? There's no point in writing that fragger anything. You didn't even do anything wrong. If the guy wants to be a glitchhead then that's his fault, not yours."

Cody relaxed slightly, though the tension in his shoulders didn't let up as he moved to scuff the air with his foot. "Maybe... I did hit him though, so..."

"What? Wait, you did?" The fire-bot gazed at his charge with new-found surprise. "Why? And since when did you know how to punch?"

"Uhh, me and Blades did a three-day marathon of 'Ninja Rough-Housing' last week. I didn't really mean to do it! It just sort of... happened. He said this thing about Frankie and I was just really angry and I just- well..." Cody trailed off, turning to brandish a shameful fistful of reddened knuckles. "I hurt my hand doing it, though."

As gentle as he could manage, Heatwave lifted Cody's proffered arm using the tip of his digit. A quick scan told him that the damage was superficial- a light dusting of greyed contusions gathered beneath the upper epidermis layer. Or 'bruises', according to the internet. The leg injury was much the same and Heatwave's high-strung coding drew back, satisfied if still broiling for some well-sought vengeance.

"Well, no-one punches right on the first try," he muttered.

"...I shouldn't have punched him at all." Cody didn't seem to want to look at him as he said it. His remorse was practically palpable.

After a long moment, Heatwave sighed. He glanced down to the forgotten wooden dummy which now laid overturned in the corner- an example of how even he could get carried away. In that respect, maybe he and the little human weren't so different after all.

"No, you probably shouldn't have," he agreed. "Look, I won't condone getting into fights-" he could almost hear Blades laughing now, "-but it sounds like you tried to do the right thing. You were just defending your friend. The most important thing here is whether you regret it."

"I- yes? I... No?" Cody startled, almost as if insulted. He screwed up his face, so much like a chastised sparkling that Heatwave felt his lips twitch involuntarily. "I mean, I regret hitting him but I don't regret getting involved. I can't call myself part of the rescue team if I can't even rescue someone from a bully, right?"

It was actually a better answer than the one he'd been looking for. Heatwave blinked and tried to suppress a sudden wave of proud approval. Instead, he poked the youngling gently with his finger; a gesture of affection he'd never really put into practice before. It was awkward and disjointed but Cody didn't seem to notice, gripping the finger in a wide approximation of a hug.

"Then you've learnt your lesson. Now, stop looking so ashamed of yourself. Just remember, if it happens again, go find one of your instructors first so you don't get in trouble. Then come talk to me and the chief. We'll handle that scraplet for you, even if that means I have to go marching up to your school myself."

Cody actually giggled smiled at that and Heatwave smirked approvingly. The image of the giant cybertronian trying to squeeze himself through the flimsy front doors of Griffin Rock Middle School was probably a ridiculous, but funny one.

"I don't think Principal Harrington would like that very much."

"Too bad. If he taught his students to be less like afts, it wouldn't happen."

"Afts?"

Heatwave paused. "You didn't hear that word from me."

The sound of Cody's surprised laughter seemed to bring a little more life back into the firehouse and Heatwave felt the angry tension ease off his back like an oiled weight.

It was weird, honestly. Maybe he was going soft or maybe the universe had just put him through too many wringers but suddenly this whole Earth deal didn't seem all that bad. Rescue duties aside, there was only so much time a bot could spend with their crew in an air-locked cabin before they started to get a little crazy. Cody was a nice kid- even if his older brother was an utter aft- and Chief Burns didn't seem too bad, either. Maybe things would work out, after all.

They must have sat there for a while, filtered off into a comfortable silence. Eventually though, Cody's childish impatience seemed to win out.

"Hey, Heatwave?"

Heatwave hummed an idle note. "Yeah?"

Still cradled gently in the mech's lap, Cody suddenly lunged forward, wrapping his twig-thin arms around the bot's neck panels. The Autobot froze and his optics shuttered in surprise, an involuntary purr rattling in his engines as Cody's tiny figure wrapped his jaw in a fragile warmth. Heatwave was struck to silence, bewildered by the alien flutter of affection that emerged beneath his chest plates as the human youngling pressed his head into the cybertronian's neck joints.

"Thank you... you know, for listening..." the boy murmured gratefully. Then suddenly the embrace was over and Cody was pulling away, scaling down his arms and lap like an energised glitch mouse with surprising dexterity.

"I- Cody..."

"I need to go talk to Dad really quick," Cody called as he hit the floor. "I'll see you later, okay?" And before the bot could even answer, the kid shot him a wide, glittering grin and then vanished into the firehouse lift as if nothing had happened at all. Heatwave stared after him, so caught up in the odd immeasurable feeling gathered by his spark chamber that he didn't even notice Blades shuffle into the newly quietened firehouse.

"Woah, Heatwave, are you actually smiling? Did someone we know offline?"

"Shut up, Blades."

But the light jab wasn't enough to squander the warmth in his tanks, nor the undeniable quirk of his lips.

In the corner, the splintered wooden dummy lay forgotten.

* * *

"C'mon," Kade said suddenly as he slapped Heatwave's hood. "We've got 10 minutes before we've gotta pick up Cody from school."

Heatwave gave a grunt of assent as his partner hauled himself into the driver's seat. Much to his chagrin, a wave of hot food followed close behind, spilling across the firefighter's lap in a wave of paper bags and loose fries. The Autobot groaned as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"Are you serious?" he grunted. "I don't want that scrap stinking up my cabin again."

Kade rolled his eyes and swallowed noisily. "Calm down, drama queen. It's only 'til we get back to the firehouse. Besides, some of this is for Cody." When Heatwave begrudgingly quietened down, Kade smirked. "I guess you really do have a soft spot for him."

"Go jump in a smelter."

A muffled snicker followed.

It was only as they began to near the gates of Cody's school that Heatwave began to notice something wasn't right.

There was a small crowd gathering just outside. Kids from all years were floundering down the front steps, all trying not to look interested in something yet failing as their attention was caught. Heatwave, equally curious, rolled a little further forward to get a closer look.

A boy was stood just beyond the front steps, a backpack dangling from a cursory, whitened fist. He wore an expression of sour distaste, much like the kind that Kade would pull when his burger was soggy. The only difference here was that this boy's disdain was not aimed at food, but rather at the person standing opposite him; a dark-skinned younger boy who's hunched shoulders and lowered head seemed to spell unease.

The first child stepped forwards, sneering out a few words that Heatwave couldn't catch over the mindless thrum of road traffic. They seemed to have some sort of effect because several bystanders flinched back as if stung. Then, completely unprovoked, the boy- or rather, the bully stepped forwards and pushed the other kid so hard that he went tumbling to the ground. The latter's bag hit the road beside him and burst open, books and pens spilling out across the sidewalk in a clatter of cheap plastic.

Heatwave's engine fluttered in alarm. Was this the bully that Cody had mentioned?

A few crowd-goers instantly sprung into action, assisting the kid back to his feet and firing glares and looks of confusion towards his attacker. They had practically no effect. In fact, the boy only seemed to thrive on the attention.

Then a shock of blond hair caught Heatwave's attention- a newcomer had entered the fray and was now stood between the fallen child and his attacker with tightly folded arms. That military jacket was familiar, Heatwave thought as he neared the group. Then he noticed the shock of blonde hair on the boy's head and the offlined hover-board clutched under one arm. Was that Cody?

A sense of perverse pride emerged in Heatwave's spark-chamber. It was a warm and foreign feeling and his codes rolled pleasantly as he settled on his axels with a huff of surprise.

The bully seemed less impressed. He fronted on Cody, brandishing the dangling backpack like some sort of weapon. The rescue recruit's lack of reaction only seemed to embolden him and he started spitting words once again, earning no reaction from his target save for the casual tapping of fingers. Suddenly, he lunged at Cody, entwining his fingers in the other boy's lapel and hauling him from the ground in a surprising show of strength. Cody, paler but face set in determination, reached his toes to the floor and held strong under the other boy's glower.

"-st leave him alone, Ashton," Heatwave heard the boy say arduously. "He hasn't done anything to you." Ashton seemed to falter unsurely under the blond's cold disapproval. For a second, Heatwave wondered whether he was actually going to back down but then the heat returned with a spurned vengeance.

"Shut up, Burns," came the hissed reply. "Why have you always got to try and play the hero? Just get over yourself."

In a movement venturing on bitterness, Ashton released Cody's collar and shoved him backwards. However, instead of simply stumbling away, the young rescue trainee lost his footing entirely and staggered, careening to the floor with a yelp of pain as he landed very squarely on his injured leg.

Suddenly, the space behind Heatwave's optics began to burn. He felt more than heard his engines roll into a deafening, thunder-like growl that startled Kade's hands from the wheel entirely, but the fireman's yell of surprise went unnoticed and ignored as Heatwave seized the controls and swerved to the roadside, almost without processing the action at all.

Inside the cabin, Kade's head nearly smacked the edge of the steering wheel. Outside, Heatwave's wheels hit the curb with a bounce and mud kicked up under the rev of the engine, arching up from the road to soak the bystanders- a bewildered Cody included. The bully yelped as the sludge soaked the front of his jeans and splattered through his hair, startled into taking several stumbled steps backwards.

"Hey, what the hell is your pr-"

As he turned to shout at the vehicle that had caused the attack, a brisk stream of gushing ice water tore his gripe away. Satisfied, Heatwave's loosened nozzle flicked away the last few droplets of liquid and then righted itself; the perfect image of guileless innocence.

A small shift of tense quiet passed where the boy stared at the motionless firetruck, mud and ice water dripping steadily from his chin. Then someone from the crowd began to laugh. Then another student followed and another until a tittering crowd had gathered at the base of the stone steps to stare at the wet and humiliated student. That was when Heatwave began to grin. The school's laughter was sickeningly sweet in his audios as the boy, teeth chattering audibly, scrambled to his feet and stomped away, but not before fixing the idle truck with a final monstrous glare that promised vengeance. Primus, now wouldn't that be something?

"Heatwave! What the scrap was that?!"

The agitated slap of Kade's hands on his steering wheel turned Heatwave's attention back to his cabin. His human partner was glaring at him through the monitor, teeth grit in an expression that probably would have looked no better on one of Hayley's kindergarteners.

Heatwave scoffed. "Built-up oil slicks up the tracks if you don't clean them out, remember? I asked you to help me with it last week but you were 'too busy'." It wasn't even a lie, really. Sure, Cody had already helped him to clean out his gears a few days ago but Kade didn't need to know that.

"I- but that doesn't- _Heatwave!" _

The bot couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Kade, thank Primus, hadn't seemed to notice the commotion outside. He was too involved in preserving the precious remains of his burger- some of which had apparently rolled under Heatwave's carriage. Ugh.

"Just watch where you're going next time, you big bag o' bolts," the firefighter grumbled and Heatwave tried not to roll his optics into the back of his helm.

"Whatever you say, tough guy."

Still muttering, Kade resumed munching on his food with the pouty vigour of a sparkling with a handful of rusted energon candy. Bemused, Heatwave turned his attention back to the mess he'd left on the sidewalk.

Save for the occasional puzzled straggler, the crowd had already dissipated, and Cody was chief among them. He was staring bewilderedly after the trail of black puddles that his attacker had left behind. The sight of the dispersing crowd only seemed to make him more confused and it was only after he saw Heatwave's mud-stained grill sat at the curb that he seemed to put the pieces together.

Cody was shaking his head as he hauled himself into the passenger seat but the grin on his face gave him away. The Rescue Bot couldn't help give a slight rumble of affection, more creature than cybertronian as he slid his seatbelt snuggly across Cody's shoulders. Perfect. He could feel the boy's laughter, part disbelief and part rueful, resonate through his leather seats and stifled a chuckled of his own.

Never one to be left out of the loop for long, Kade made a noise of confusion and horror.

"Woah, woah, you're getting mud all over the dashboard! What did you do, roll around in the outfield for an hour?" The look he tried to give his younger brother might have been stern if he hadn't been talking around a mouthful of soggy fries. The boy smiled regardless.

"Sorry about the mess, Heatwave."

Heatwave couldn't help but snort this time. "Nah, you're fine. Just try not to get it on the seats."

As they pulled away from the sidewalk, Kade's suspicious eyes gradually wandered back to the road. Heatwave felt a small, grateful hand tap the inside of his door lightly. In response, the 'bot tightened his seatbelt around Cody's shoulders in as close to a real hug as they could ever get.

Sure, things on Earth weren't perfect- he grimaced as Kade spat a spray of yellow mush across his dashboard- but just maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all.


	2. Chase

**POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING (and spoilers): this contains a car crash, a bit of violence, mentions of injuries, etc.**

**Also: Frankie, yay! ****Honestly, I had absolutely no plans for her being in this chapter but here she is anyway. There's not a lot of Cody in this one so I'm sorry about that but I promise that the next one will be all about him! ****Anyways, I hope you enjoy! XX**

Logic was fundamental.

The breadth of the universe was governed by logic- rules that had to be followed, be that in regards to the laws of science or the statutes of morality. Cybertron and all its creations were manufactured from the very concept of logic. Primus (a primordial being fashioned from light and order) was their creator and it was reflected in their very make-up; compositions of precise alloys, mechanical structures, defined pre-programming, societal structures based on reasoning and categorisation. Pure rationality.

In that regard, Earth was an antithetical abnormality.

Humans were the very amalgamation of illogical. As organic beings, they were governed by emotions and instinct rather than programming and even under Cody's kind tutelage, it was difficult to spy the reasoning behind certain human behaviours.

He just could not comprehend, for instance, why any human would deign to drive _faster_ in the rain.

Chief Burns chuckled tiredly when the query was aired, peering through the tracks of damp that trailed across Chase's windows. "I don't know if there's a specific reason for it, Chase," he admitted. "Sometimes it's reckless teenagers who want to show off or have some fun but in most cases, people just tend to forget. It's easy to be careless in conditions like this, especially in a place like Griffin Rock."

It wasn't exactly an answer by any means and Chase only found himself more addled as they pulled out to hunt down the escaping car. With the flash of his sirens blanketed by sheets of grey downpour and his wheels slick and unsteady on the roads, it seemed even more obvious why speeding in such conditions was inadvisable.

Regardless, the car ahead noticed its pursuer and rolled to a begrudging stop.

"I do not know if this is relevant, sir," Chase mused bemusedly, "but I have noticed that the residents of Griffin Rock have an unusually high proclivity for danger. I find it somewhat disconcerting."

Chief Burns didn't seem to find offence in the comment. Rather, he shook his head ruefully. "Now that I definitely can't argue with."

The altercation took no more than a few minutes and the chief slipped back carefully into the driver's seat, dripping water across the upholstery. Chase took the liberty of adjusting his internal temperatures and watched in satisfaction as Chief Burns sighed and relaxed into the warmth.

"Thanks, partner," the human huffed gratefully. "This rain probably isn't too good for you 'bots in large doses. After we pick up Cody, we can head straight back to the firehouse and get dry."

Pleasantly surprised by the concern, Chase's engine let out an appreciative stutter. "Actually, it is not a problem, Chief. Cybertronians are able to withstand a wide range of extremities and I find the rain to be somewhat of a comfort. It reminds me of Cybertron, although I must admit that your planet's variety of precipitation is far more pleasant given that it cannot melt my armour."

Chief Burns released another chuckle and ran a hand across the wheel as they eased back onto the road. "I'm glad that's the case. Still, I'll feel much better for dragging you out here once we're indoors. Nobody should have to work in these conditions, even you Rescue Bots."

"Criminals do not await ideal circumstances, sir," Chase answered automatically and his old-aged oath rose to his glossa almost without his consent. "A Rescue Bot's duty is to serve and protect, no matter how big or small the task at hand and regardless of any undesirable meteorological conditions."

This summoned a rueful snort from the old human (and how bizarre it was to feel so much younger than someone who was, in reality, so many aeons younger than himself).

"Too true. And speaking of which-" Chase drew up on his axles as a show of rapt attention, "-I have something to ask you. Technically, it's a request to all of the 'bots but I figured that you might as well hear it first."

Chase blinked and raised an inquisitive optic ridge, unable to disperse his unease when he picked up a slight change to his cabin's atmosphere. His charge's heartbeat was raised and nearly erratic with what he assumed to be nerves. Odd, given that the chief was otherwise a paragon of restraint.

"Are you alright, Chief Burns? Something appears to be troubling you."

"Oh, I'm fine," the chief assured him but the ineligible hitch in the man's breathing was enough to convince Chase otherwise. "It's just… something came up the other day. I've been looking into it with my doctor and everything seems to be fine but- I, ah… I suppose it served as a wakeup call."

Chase watched with growing concern when the man's hands flexed across his wheel with an unfamiliar strength. The flesh on the chief's knuckles tinted white from the force and yet his face remained unnervingly impassive.

"I'm getting old, Chase," he said finally. It was less of a curse than an exhausted admittance, one that had Chase tightening his seatbelt around his partner's torso. "I… I'm just not as young as I once was and I can't see me being able to do rescue work for that much longer."

The muted sorrow in the man's expression was enough to make the police-bot sink on his axles. He had suspected of course, but that did not soften the blow.

He had long since noted the sharp curve of the man's maturity; wrinkles pinched together to form miniature greying frowns, peppered streaks of white on grey acting as a staple of his partner's age. Humans were fragile, more liable to break as they grew older and Chief Burns was certainly older than most. Frankly, the idea of losing his wisened partner so soon- was more unsettling than he was willing to admit and he could not imagine that the chief felt any differently.

"I... I am sorry, Chief Burns," he stated sincerely.

The chief's answer was a smile that didn't quite touch his eyes. "It's alright, partner. It was bound to happen eventually and besides, at least I'll have plenty of peaceful fishing trips to enjoy."

Chase paused and kept quiet, hoping that a verbal response was unnecessary. Chief Burns didn't seem to mind and took the silence as an invitation.

"Anyway, what I wanted to ask was that you look out for each other and try to keep yourselves safe. I won't be around forever and I want to make sure that you're all safe and happy, even when I'm gone."

That phrasing was far too specific. Chase's engines nearly stalled in alarm and he tried to keep himself from rolling off of the road.

"Chief Burns," he spluttered sharply, spark jolting unpleasantly, "please do not tell me that you are suggesting-"

"I'm not suggesting anything, partner," came the quick reply, although Chase could not find it in himself to be comforted. "Just think of it as a precaution. I know that it won't always be possible considering what we do but at the very least, promise me that you'll try to keep Cody safe. He may be an excellent member of the rescue team but he's still too young for this job. Besides, he has a habit of attracting trouble."

Chief Burns didn't seem to know whether to sound amused or concerned by his youngest and that was a sentiment that was easy to sympathise with.

It was an excellent way to play the situation, Chase noted. Shift attention from the dark, foreboding comment regarding life expectancy to something more blithe- Cody's accident-prone magnetism.

As it were, Cody's ability to attract danger had become something of a running curiosity. Blades- ever superstitious- was certain that the boy was cursed and although Chase was a little less convinced by this, the evidence was admittedly stacked against him. Frankly, there were days where even Chase struggled to let Cody leave the house unaccompanied.

The 'bot couldn't help but sound a little dry when he replied, "I believe that is an understatement, sir."

Chase was not an expert at comprehending human humour, but his tone must have amused the man since he gave an agreeable chuckle.

"You're telling me," the chief huffed lightly. "I'm sure he's going to do amazing things one day but we've got to make sure that he gets there first. That's why I'm asking you to keep an eye on him for me, just in case I'm not able to."

It was sound reasoning, Chase decided as they rolled down the road towards Cody's academic environment, even if the police-bot thoroughly disliked it. He let out a reluctant vent that rattled his tanks enough for the chief to send him a bemused glance.

"I understand, Chief. I will try my best."

All at once, the heaviness seemed to drain from the chief; he sighed and the grey-stained wrinkles crinkled with his sound relief. "Thank you, Chase. That's all I can ask for." He gave a soft smile, wrought with gratitude and care. "I'm really glad you're here, partner."

Chase sunk low on his axles, begrudgingly placated.

"...And the same to you, sir."

If the seatbelt slunk across his shoulder felt tighter than normal, the chief did not mention it.

They pulled up just beyond the reaches of the school gates, the rain still falling as a light patter. With the chief now sitting quietly in his passenger seat, Chase allowed himself to be lulled by the knock of the rain on his windshield.

He had not been lying when he'd said he enjoyed the rain. The rhythmic connection of water on his outer plates was almost ataractic as the rivulets traced unknown charts in their journey to his undercarriage. Calming was the best word for it. Boulder may have even called it beautiful and to an extent, Chase could agree. Rather, he could appreciate the quiet it usually brought.

Now though, that same quiet was disturbed by lingering unease. There was a tension now and although his partner appeared outwardly peaceful, there was an undeniable twitch to the man's brow which seemed to suggest a desire to speak.

As always, the calm only precedes the storm.

A crash and a shout arose from the sidewalk and suddenly the sought-after quiet was in pieces. Alarmed, Chase directed his attention to the sound and found that some sort of argument had been sparked inside the quiet café beside him.

In his seat, Chief Burns straightened and then sighed profusely.

"Well, looks like our work for today isn't quite done yet. Sorry, partner, but would you mind waiting for Cody while I deal with this?"

He revved a faint affirmative. The chief wandered away, ducking beneath the safety of the building's reach and leaving the police vehicle static by the roadside.

Chase tried to fall back into the solace. It worked briefly before he was disturbed once more by the bell that rang across the near schoolyard. Children began to trickle from the front gates and it was not long before he spotted a familiar sheath of blond.

He watched as Cody waved goodbye to someone behind him- Frankie, assumedly- and darted to the curb. Chase was half-tempted to flash his lights in greeting but was aware of the many available eyes that would notice such autonomy. It was not necessary regardless as Cody spotted him almost instantly and swung him a glad grin from beneath the shelter of his backpack.

All was quiet.

The moment Cody stepped out into the road, the rippling rumble of an engine emerged from beneath the hush of the rain. Chase stilled, sensors expanding to their full range as the sound expanded to a thunderous growl and a car sped around the corner at full tilt.

His first reaction was to prepare to give chase to the speeding perpetrator but something about the driver's expression made him pause mid-action.

Fear, not excitement.

The driver- a sallow-faced woman- had her hands wrenching across the wheel but the vehicle was out of control, skidding and spitting up puddles. Chase watched, growing alert when he realised that the panic twisting the driver's face had jerked into horror.

He followed her eyes. The car was heading straight for-

"Cody!"

The transformation was seamless. His vocal processor snapped to attention without prompt, visor snapping into place so harshly that his HUD rippled in protest. Dormant formulae blinked across his optics so fast that his vision became a blur of frenzied blue. Across the street, Cody's head instantly shot up and Chase saw those big brown optics widen with imperceptible shock.

A memory surfaced, unbidden but as clear as polished Praxian crystal.

* * *

_"Cody, you forgot your books on the table!"_

_Chase heard the call from above and turned to watch a wind-ridden Cody Burns slide down the length of the firehouse pole. His hair was ruffled and out of place, eyes bright with the erratic energy only a tired, eager youngling could ever carry._

_"Don't worry, Dani, I won't need them today!" Upon seeing the cybertronians gathered together in the bunker, his features lit up in a familiar grin. "Good morning, guys!"_

_"Aren't you gonna be late?" Heatwave asked as Cody scrambled to the couch for his jacket. Though he seemed disapproving, the flicker in the mech's field betrayed his amusement. "Do you need one of us to drive you?"_

_The youngling shook his head sheepishly. "Thanks, Heatwave, but I'm gonna try and make it on my own today. School's not that far and it was kind of my fault that I woke up so late anyway."_

_Cody was too busy shoveling his feet into his shoes to notice the looks of warmth that the four cybertronian's shared over his shoulder. Although Chase himself may not have typically favoured younglings, Cody- as pleasantly earnest as always- always appeared as somewhat of an exception._

_"That's very responsible of you, Cody," he complimented and the boy beamed with pride._

_"Thanks, Chase! Are you and dad gonna pick me up later?"_

_Chase tilted his helm to survey their youngest quietly; small and brimming with nervous energy, crumpled hair follicles falling haphazardly over moist optics. Regardless of species, younglings were always the same, he couldn't help but think. _ _The mech absorbed the awaiting smile that greeted him and was helpless to do anything offer back an unconscious one of his own._

_"Certainly," he replied and Cody seemed to brighten tenfold. "I wish you a good day at your place of education and will be glad to see you shortly."_

_When the youngling laughed, Chase found himself endeared to the sound. He proffered a wave of farewell. The blond mirrored it and promptly disappeared from the garage entrance, though not without calling back a hasty goodbye that was fondly returned by all._

_Behind him, Chase felt the playful tug of Blades' field on his own._

_"Aw, he even has Chase wrapped around his fingers!"_

_Chase was well aware of what his teammate meant to imply, but settled for an ignorant, straight-edged stare as he retorted, "Physically speaking, Cody does not have fingers large enough for us to be wrapped around and regardless, I do not believe that my frame would be pliable enough for such a task."_

_Blades simply ignored him, rotors twitching with his eagerness. "Dani was so right! Cody's magic really does work on everyone."_

_"I was unaware that Cody was a practicioner of magic." Chase raised a disbelieving optic ridge- genuinely this time. "Or that such a thing even existed outside of common fantasy tropes."_

_"He doesn't actually mean magic," Heatwave snorted idly. Their leader seemed oddly content to lean against the wall and watch their exchange with mild amusement._

_"Yes, I do!" Blades insisted and his turbines whirred affrontedly. "I mean, have you not noticed how quickly he manages to make friends with people? Even Heatwave likes him! I actually saw him smile the other day!"_

_Instantly, Heatwave's good-humour snapped and he glowered at the orange 'bot. "I told you to shut up about that."_

_"What? But it was adorable! Look, I even got a picture!"_

* * *

The memory was swept away in the riptide of volatile codes.

That beaming image of Cody- bright and earnest and grinning shamelessly as he waved them goodbye- was torn asunder. The only thing Chase could see now was Cody's colourless cheeks, face pallid with horror as the car careened full-force towards him and, for a terrible moment, nothing else seemed to matter.

Chase shoved aside every command that desecrated his vision, coiled his legs beneath him and leapt forwards with a desperation that was utterly unfamiliar to him- just in time to receive the full-frontal assault of the small family car smashing straight into his chassis.

The sudden clash of metal on metal echoed a sickening symphony that seemed to rock the very planet below him.

Pain blossomed across his torso, raw and red and savage, unlike anything he'd felt before. It shredded a fritzed shout from his voice box as star systems exploded into existence behind his optics. Sent rolling across the stretch of hard tarmac, Chase felt the unwelcome edges of rock and serrated shrapnel ripping through his wiring and sending his vision tripping from black to white and back again.

Then there was the sharp crack as something small and warm connected with his backplates, trailed by a shrill scream and the tinkling of broken glass on torn metal plating.

_Energon levels rapidly depleting … 72% ... 66% … 57% ..._

_Initiate emergency offline? **No.**_

The world was still revolving when Chase started up again. He blinked away a flickering onslaught of alerts, jagged and aggressively-worried coding threatening to melt his processor down to molten slag. The warm road seemed to shift erratically beneath him- not the smooth metal of Cybertron's streets but hard and uneven grit- and his audials rang as if he'd just had a run-in with an angry Dinobot. There was the pain too, dull at first but growing stronger with every nanosecond as he tried to heave himself upwards.

Where was he? What was happening?

A quick scan of his surroundings told him something heavy and razor-sharp had dug its way to his centre pipelines, crushing his chest beneath its uneven weight. Even stranger still, he could feel something beneath him- soft and limp where it was strewn against his back struts.

_Self-repair systems: online  
_  
_WARNING: several energon lines ruptured, instant medical attention required  
_  
_Safety protocols overwritten, counteracting pain receptors_

A wet voice suddenly split the static; it was only a single word, spoken in a language that Chase could barely recognise, but its importance was somehow immeasurable.

_"Cody!"_

Instantly, his systems spiked. Chase's optics snapped open and his engines roared to life. He caught the frantic shouts of organics around him as his audials crackled protestingly. More yelling, a foreign designation shouted over and over, the scared murmurs of helpless onlookers, his battle computer fizzing as it wildly calculated the severity of his injuries.

Cody. Where was Cody?

With a huff of unmeasured strength, Chase wrapped his servos around the object pinning him down and dragged it up and out of the way. He ignored the warm torrent of liquid down his front and the sway of the street beneath him as he hauled himself to his pedes. Instead, he straightened and stopped to gauge a look at his surroundings.

A vehicle, totalled, was on its side several metres away with a pale and shaking organic perched at its side. Patches of sparking energon were splashed under its wheels, sizzling under the mid-day sun. The functioning part of him registered that it was his but that was unimportant.

Where was his youngling?

Chase ignored the growing crowd of human spectators to scan the rubble, scouring for that familiar shock of golden hair. When nothing of the sort emerged, panic tilted in his chest. But then a whimper- barely audible over the persistent ringing in his audios- snatched his attention and his engines went cold in his chest.

A fragile head was lolled against the pavement, shuddering breaths of pain rattling a tiny chest. The human's leg was twisted at entirely the wrong angle beneath it and flecks of red and splotched violet were dotted starkly across its faceplates.

Cody.

At the back of his processor, the brittle hum of his teammates' questions scratched down his comm. unit. A low murmur arose from the street, the sound of worried humans gathering around the smoking wreckage as people ran to help pull the injured child from the rubble. Chase couldn't bear any of it.

He barely noticed the frantic buffeting of his teammates' fields against his own as the rest of the rescue team finally pulled up against the roadside- minutes too late, it seemed.

Kade stumbled out first, seeming to take in the wreck with beady eyes before darting forwards and skidding to his knees beside his youngest brother. Graham and Dani followed with frightening speed, both blowing out breaths of matching panic. All the while, Chase could do nothing but watch as his bruised and broken charge was obscured beneath a veil of mismatched rescue uniforms.

An odd sensation of numbness settled across his plating then. It sunk through his wires, the chilling bite of it threatening to drain the floor from beneath his faltering pedes. He never even noticed the sound of heavy steps edging up behind him and started when a cold servo brushed against his dented shoulder plate.

"-ase! Chase, what happened?" The static faded as he met burning amber optics. "Chase!"

His programs hissed at him, threatening to run haywire. He couldn't tear his optics from the shred of stained blond laying in Chief Burns' lap, even as glitched syllables of unfiltered hysteria poured from his vocal cords. "I- I do not- I am-"

Beyond the remains of the crash, he could hear Dani start to give way to her own panic. Her fingers- which had been wrapped tightly around Cody's limp wrist- came away stained red and blue.

"There's no time! Dad, we have to get him to the hospital now!"

Nobody argued with that. Blades' rotors hummed with the nervous energy of a live electric wire as his body slotted into helicopter mode. Dani hurried over and yanked a medical stretcher from his cabin with Graham shadowing close behind her.

A soft whine scratched from Chase's voice box as Cody, limp and unresponsive, was hauled into Blades' back seats. A frantic hand on his pede drew his attention and he transformed, more second nature than conscious decision, allowing the chief to launch himself into the front seat with a look half-terror pasted wildly across his face.

"Drive, Chase!"

Chase's sirens instantly began to shriek. He ripped down the street with the tear-away scream of tires and smoke, his only guide the unsteady touch of the human in his passenger seat. His partner's clammy hands were plastered across his steering wheel like petrified steel rods but Chase had no comfort to offer. Instead, his processor pin-focused on siphoning every morsel of energon to his wheel treads.

The hospital felt like a lifetime away.

Griffin Rock seemed to turn to monochrome in the silence of their journey. Black-and-white streets tore by, a scornful recreation of one of Chase's beloved films. Devoid of all life and colour. Devoid of Cody Burns.

The instant they pulled into the hospital parking lot, the chief tore from his seat, followed by the rest of the Burns family. Cody (and Primus, he was so tiny) was carted from Blades' cockpit and into the haze of flashing lights, swallowed by the flurried panic of hospital staff.

The hours seemed to pass in slow-motion.

Chase watched as the colour seeped back into his surroundings eventually, gradual and muted like a poorly-taken polaroid. Sound followed close behind in the form of heavy pedes pacing back and forth and the careful vents of someone trying not to fall apart. Somehow he found himself back in his bipedal form, hunched against the side of the white-washed building. Blades was perched at his side, welding kit open and active. When had his repairs begun? He couldn't even recall.

"You lost a lot of energon," Blades murmured. The normally effervescent mech was eerily quiet, face robbed of any kind of any emotion save for concentration as Chase's fluids trickled through his digits. "Your nanites have kicked in but you've still got to stay off your pedes for now. In the meantime, drink this." The medic shoved a full cube of med-grade energon into the enforcer's servos yet Chase barely registered it. Instead, he looked up.

Boulder was nearby but hunched and quiet; the soft-sparked engineer seemed wilted. He was fiddling with something small in his servos- Cody's torn-up backpack, Chase realised. Further beyond that was Heatwave. The fire-bot was stepping back and forth across the empty parking lot, engine pulsing into one long growl of aggravation and worry.

Ignoring Blades' hushed protests, Chase stumbled to his pedes. Heatwave and Boulder both turned to look at him but he ignored them. Instead, he turned. It took him mere seconds of window searching to find them; the Burns family, scattered like lonely shreds of a family portrait across an empty hospital room.

Graham and Dani were leant against one another, the former murmuring baseless comfort into his sister's ears though she seemed unable to tear her eyes from the rusted red settled on her fingers. Kade was stood with his back to the wall, face lowered so that his hair curtained whatever expression he wore. (Chase knew enough of the eldest child to know that he was fighting his own self-blame.) And finally there was the Chief, head bowed and head buried in his grey and wrinkled hands.

Chase's sudden movement drew their attention. Chief Burns looked up and, upon meeting the Autobot's gaze, mustered a small smile of relief.

"Hey, partner," he said softly. Even through the glass, Chase could hear that note of exhaustion and wrongness in his voice. "How are you doing?"

It took Chase a long moment to process the question. Part of him felt disbelief- frankly, the answer was so obvious that it was nearly insulting. Then he saw the tremble in his partner's wrinkled hands and understood.

"I am functional, sir," he managed after a moment and the words threatened to strangle him into silence.

Chief Burns sagged. "Good. I'm glad you're alright."

They staggered back into silence.

Chase wasn't sure what to do now. Blades had retreated, his warnings having fallen on deaf audials. Boulder had at some point joined him, the pair trading hushed whispers and sad glances that made Chase's back struts itch. Heatwave had fallen still too but Chase didn't have to turn around to know that his leader was still seething.

He wasn't sure what made him said it. It welled up out of him; a soft and mournful cry that made him tremble.

"I… I am sorry, sir," he murmured and saw the Chief look up again. Kade went still in the window as behind him, Blades stiffened. "I have failed you in my mission to serve and protect. I should have been able to prevent this. My attempt's to save Cody were inadequate and miscalculated. I do not believe that I remain worthy of calling myself a rescue bot and I…"

At first, he didn't even register that he was trembling. Then he spotted the droplets of processed energon dribbling down his servos as it spilt over the sides of the energon cube. Some of the toxic liquid dribbled down his digit to mingle with the rain and dried blood still sprayed across his plating. He clenched his optics shut and tried to pretend he couldn't still hear the squeal of tires in the back of his processor.

"This wasn't your fault."

The tremble in Chase went still. He looked up and his gaze tracked automatically to the Chief but was surprised to find Kade glaring at him through the frosted window.

"We're all rescue workers, dammit. None of us were there and none of us could help you so we're all at fault for this." When Kade shook his head, his eyes were filled with a determined fire that made Chase falter. "Cody is still alive right now because of you, so don't you dare apologise for saving my little brother's life."

Chase didn't know how to respond. The other Autobot's had drawn up behind him, their fields flickering like dying candles against his own. Fear, worry, surprise and gratitude all merged into one.

"I agree." The chief had stood to join his eldest by the window, a heavy hand coming to rest on his eldest's shoulder. Pride gave way to age where wrinkles met a greying brow and the Burns' patriarch smiled sadly. "You only did what you thought was right and you can't condemn yourself for that. Nobody can be blamed for what happened and I know that if Cody were here right now, he would be saying the exact same thing."

Chase knew that the man was right. Cody wasn't the type to blame others when things went wrong. He knew more than anyone the dangers of commonplace accidents. He would not blame anyone.

Quiet and unassuming, the smallest string of solace started to sew itself through Chase's chassis.

"I… Thank you, Chief."

Chase received a small but steady smile that was backed up by the supporting servos pressed to his back struts. He might have said something, perhaps offered his own consolation to the exhausted humans, but was halted by the sound of hurried footsteps down the corridor.

Eyes and optics alike turned as a nurse appeared in the doorway; a tired, life-drained vision in white and green. A certain stillness followed her and she glanced to the window, no doubt taken aback by the many glowing optics peering into the small hospital room, but said nothing as she traversed the last few steps into the room.

All four humans immediately shot to their feet and fired off their frantic questions.

"Is he okay?!"

"How is he?"

"Is everything alright?"

"Please tell me that he's-"

When the nurse raised a still hand, the room immediately fell back into a baited silence, waiting for her words. It was almost cruel and a part of Chase felt enraged- because how dare she seem so calm when their world was crumbling around them? But then something gave way in her eyes.  
It took a moment for him to process her smile.

"He's going to be just fine," she said softly.

Chase's vision flickered unsteadily. Around him, the company dissolved into a puddle of relief. The 'bots beside him seemed to shrink back, their joy and excitement reflected in the bubbling of their fields and the frantic twitching of kibble.

He barely paid attention to it. Instead, he listened with rapt regard as the chief- though incredibly relieved, judging by his frenzied pulse rate- continued to question the nurse with lingering unease.

"How bad was it?"

"A badly broken leg, several cracked ribs, a pretty big concussion from the impact and some third-degree burns on his arms and facial area but other than that, he's perfectly healthy. To be honest, you got lucky. if your rescue robot hadn't known to jump in front of him like that-" Chase stiffened when the room's eyes tracked to him. "-he would have gotten off a lot worse."

The Rescue Bot let those words settle in his helm.

He… had succeeded?

The sudden streams of data pouring across his HUD made it difficult to concentrate as pure, unadulterated relief threatened to topple him. He leant heavily against Blades', struggling to maintain his robotic persona, especially as Chief Burns turned to give him a subtle, grateful nod.

"Is there any way that we'll be able to see him?"

"He's asleep right now but we can go in to check on him if you'd like."

Chief Burns seemed to sink into his gratitude, a weary but genuine smile lifting the weight from his shoulders. "That would be wonderful. Thank you, Jennifer."

The nurse only nodded, a saddened smile of her own surfacing. "It's no problem, Chief. You and your family have done an incredible job of keeping our town in one piece and Cody sounds like a really good kid. If you need anything else, we'd all be happy to help. Now if you'll follow me, I'll take you to right to him."

* * *

"To the left... Wait, back to the right a little! Oh, but now the letters are crooked!"

"Blades, would you please keep still? It looks fine."

"Fine?! But it has to be perfect!"

The noise of the firehouse was inescapable; Blades and Dani were loudest as they tugged a frayed banner back and forth above the garage entrance. Heatwave and Kade only watched, offering snarky commentary by way of helping (ranging from "Heatwave, does that writing look kind of wonky to you?" to "I did try to tell them that colour wouldn't work with that shade…", both answered with an angered hiss of: "Would you shut up and help?!") Inside, Boulder seemed content to help Graham monitor the snack-laden table while the Greene's were collaborating over the decorations- the younger looped streamers across the walls, whilst the elder vigorously monitored the music.

The rest of Griffin Rock hadn't been forgotten either. Though not physically present, their mark was left in the cornered collection of gifts which had gathered over the course of the past weeks; kaleidoscope bouquets and fruit baskets, ribbons and confetti and scribbled drawings from school children. Even Optimus Prime had made a contribution- a smaller gift box that lingered at the front of the table. (When opened, it would reveal a trinket-sized Autobot symbol and a clumsily-doodled 'get well soon' card signed by the whole of Team Prime and one 'Miko Nakadai'. Chase was not going to ask how the impressively-sized Prime had managed to craft such an ornate and tiny gift.)

And Chase? The police-bot was left standing by the entrance, optics tracing back and forth across the road as he waited for the old cruiser to roll around the corner.

It had been a long six weeks since the incident. A certain pensive silence had taken to the firehouse, not simply because of Cody's injuries but also because of the abrupt absence of life at home and on missions. There had been no helpful advice inserted over the comm. units, no gentle cajoling or reassurance, no bemused explanations for human nuances of humour. Although their human partners had done their best to fill the silence, something persistent had remained missing.

"Are you okay, Chase?" he heard someone ask suddenly. Chase looked down to find Frankie perched at his pedes, rocking back upon the edges of her heels. Her frown was soft and emphatic, her tiny darkened hands brushing across his outer armour with what he gathered was both affection and concern- as observant as always.

"I am fine," he answered smoothly- a white lie, or so he had been told. Normally, he would have been appalled by his own deceit but as of now, he could not seem to focus on anything other than the heavy discomfort settled deep in the bottom of his tanks.

"You don't have to be nervous, you know," Frankie murmured kindly. "Cody loves you."

His optics flicked down to survey the girl.

Humans were frail and easily broken- he was all too aware of that now. Frankie, however, did not appear as such. Perhaps it was the nature of her personality but small and thin though she may be, she had never looked fragile to him. Even now she stood with her arms folded calmly behind her back and lips curled into a pleasant, comforting half-smile.

"Maybe so," he found himself admitting, "and yet I cannot help but feel somewhat responsible for his current condition."

Frankie's frown shifted into something deeper. "Is that why you didn't volunteer to pick him up from the hospital?" It was. "But you've already seen Cody since then and didn't he already tell you that it didn't matter? Sure, Cody got hurt, but it isn't like he would ever hold that against you."

"If I had been quicker or more efficient, Cody would not have been injured at all."

Frankie hummed, rocking back and forth upon her toes in an expression of childlike thought. "Maybe so," she echoed and it drew a reluctant softness to his mouth, "but that's kind of an illogical way of thinking, isn't it?"

Chase went very still. This time when he glanced down, it was to find her watching him with her own astute brand of bemusement. It was not the first time he had been taken aback by her shrewdness and he had no doubt that it would not be the last. Regardless, he shook off her stare and straightened.

"I do not understand what you mean."

Frankie sighed. "If you hadn't done what you did, then my best friend would be dead right now." She said it so matter-of-factly that even Chase had a hard time not flinching. She was correct, of course, but it remained disturbing to hear. "Even if you had been quicker or even more efficient like you said, what's to say that Cody wouldn't have still ended up getting hurt- maybe even more injured than he is now? There's no point in being nervous about what could have been, you should just be happy about what has been."

It took him a moment to process her words and even then he found himself frowning. He might have questioned her further if his optics hadn't caught the familiar black and white of the chief's old police cruiser.

From behind him, he heard cheers erupt from Blades and Boulder, followed by the mutterings of a happy, newly paint-splattered Heatwave. Music pulsated across the trimmed lawn as the odd scent of human food and drying paint mingled with the delighted laughter of the human youngling, who was picked from the police cruiser in giant metal servos and placed gently in his wheelchair.

"Hey, Chase?"

The call snatched him back from the glittering of Cody's grin. He turned his attention just in time to see Frankie encase his lower leg in a tight embrace; one he accepted with blatant- though not displeased- surprise.

"I never thanked you for saving Cody's life," she murmured, "so… thanks."

She pulled away and Chase let out an involuntary purr when she pressed a warm, childish kiss to his sun-stained armour. Then in a flash, she was gone again, running across the tarmac to fling herself into Cody's wheelchair for a huge, desperate hug. It tore a bubble of joyous laughter from the boy's throat, one that the surrounding adults echoed affectionately.

The firehouse was full of noise again.

Chase, quiet and contemplative, watched as the party gathered around their youngest companion. The banner behind him fluttered in the wind, the words 'WELCOME HOME, CODY' printed in wild, haphazard capitals.

Once, he might have thought a decoration like that to be illogical; uncoordinated, disorderly, and without thought or purpose. Now, looking around at the wash of colours and sounds, he could only find himself content.

Logic may be a staple for the rest of the universe but Earth seemed somehow untouched by it.

Surprisingly, he didn't really mind.


End file.
